So I quickly sanded down the bad area on the nose of the hood and shot a couple light coats over it to see if there was a chance of making this job turn out or I would just have to reset and paint the whole thing again

That shot was of the second reaction I had. After some testing I discovered the Valspar was reacting with the Lacquer based primer I had used, so I switched to the U-Pol primer and achieved one-ness with the universe

While all that was happening, I wanted to tape up the air ducts in the hood to keep debris out of the hood liner underside. I figure the KAMs (Kentucky Attack Mice) would be enough to contend with I didn't want to make it any easier on them with readily available nest building materials.

Now, since it is a grill and considering I wanted to build some of the truck's heritage back into it, I decided to paint the thing the original dark silver accent color of the truck when Dodge built it

I don't know how or if it will match, so this may become some elaborate experiment, but for now, it's dark silver metallic!

You may recall that I painted the wheels the same color so it will carry that theme somewhat I think

I did get some more work done on SquareD, but no time to post it up tonight.

Today was a scramble. Get the grill built up, and installed, cut 2.5 acres of grass, change out the flat tire on the trailer, Weld the rear leg back on (It got ripped off in my farm driveway), get the box scraper hooked to the tractor, get the tractor back on the trailer for the possible weekend trip down south, shower, feed the boys, and get to church by 1900. Then finally got home @2330 and now it's 0027 and I'm hittin the sheets

Mostly just below my right eye down and back a bit, I noticed a small area that was definitely a little better lookin'!

OK, back to the truck stuff...You knuckleheads don't care or want to hear about my knoggin, you're here to read about that cool Dodge, (And occasionally about the RDA (Red dog antics) and Ranger or even the pre-rangers)

So yestertag was the grill completin' day

It looks like what I wanted it to. Sort of a high techy metallic look that connects this militarized hybrid to it's farmer and blue collar roots.

First up I had to fix the cracked grill insert. Three were super-duper, and one was on it's way out. Not wanting to buy some inferior Dr. Yeng's body parts company item, I just resurrected the broken one by cleaning, sanding, and gluing some reinforcing strips in there. I left the cracks obvious to hint at the rough beginnings of this old battle horse

Then the sanding fest where I removed several substrates of skin I was growing for the years to come.After I had removed all hint of my epidermis, I had some well prepped parts that got sprayed and would have made a Black Panther wanna-be, proud!

OK, so I assembled the grill leaving the D-O-D-G-E letters the same color as the grill to give it a more techy look

See where I'm slowly becomin' fashion conscious?

Little story: It started a few weeks ago.Sitting in church, my lovely wife commented, "See how the pastor dresses so fashionably? Why don't you?" Hmmm, never thought about it much. I am not your typical metro sexual candidate, I'm just a country boy after you clean off the dust.I considered my jeans and picture window print Eddie-Bauer shirt and Tommy Hilfiger signature belt, and my closed toe sandals done in blue with olive green accent stripes. My hair was cut "Man style" which is to say, just short with no real style, just "serviceable."Then I considered my elegant lady. Heels, of course, tight fitting jeans which are always dangerous, some leporard skin top with a matching scarf and a jacket. Earrings, pearls and foo-foo hair. She is always a stunner, which I just take for granted...but it got me thinkin'

Then she leaned over and whispered, "You need to get in touch with your femine side a bit more." Like Bruce Jenner is doing, I started thinking? Me, well, NO. But she was asking me to style up so I wasn't draggin' her down while she walked around lookin like some model.

So I started thinkin' about style...Then I forgot all about it, and that's my story!

I just love the unapologetic lines of these classic Dodge trucks. Just plain and ordinary and square. No F-15 drop tank look here, just a big blunt instrument.

Then I spied two boxes that for two growing seasons have blocked my view of that prudy Jap maple. I yanked them, noting that they had begun to grow roots into the window sill, and opened them to discover two shiny new parking light lenses!

Time was definitely agin' me (hillybilly talk, as "you're either wit' me or agin' me)Still had to change out the busted trailer wheel and weld up the busted off leveling leg, and our church is having a 4 day conference that is really a Revival, and I'm not missin' that for the sake of truck parts!

So I had time to build up the aft electrical panel in prep for the "running of the wires."

U, C, in the tucky, we have the runnin' of the thoroughbreds down in Lexington, but in Don's garage, all I have is the runnin' of the wires!